Fabrix Quilt Shop on Clement Street: Deadstock From $9.99

Fabrix, at 432 Clement Street between 5th and 6th avenues in the Inner Richmond, is the fabric store quilters in San Francisco visit for backing, borders and odd prints that no catalog carries. It buys overstock straight from Bay Area factories and designers, so a cotton poplin can cost $9.99 a yard and a vintage-print canvas $15. The shop opens seven days a week from 10 am to 5:30 pm.

Fabrix has been reselling leftover cloth for about 30 years, and it is listed on the San Francisco Legacy Business Registry. It also carries on the ribbon trade of the Ribbonerie, a ribbon store that ran in the city for four decades, which is why one wall is satins, grosgrains and novelty ribbons rather than more bolts.

The current owner bought the business in 2022 after learning her favorite local fabric store was about to close with no one to take it over. She sewed at home for more than 30 years, studied fashion merchandising at FIT, and worked as a merchandiser for Brooks Brothers in New York and Gymboree in San Francisco, where she saw how much fabric overproduction leaves behind.

The shop describes its regulars as designers and makers who repair, reuse and re-envision materials, and it argues that every yard sold keeps fabric out of landfill, since most textiles cannot be recycled. Buying here also helps local factories and small labels recoup the cost of material they no longer need, which matters more as Bay Area workrooms close and the store looks for new sources farther afield.

Apparel makers and upholsterers often end up with yardage too small for a resale jobber but too good for a dumpster. Fabrix collects those ends, carrying them home in the family Toyota Highlander to keep costs low. For quilters that means short runs: a print may exist only as 15 yards on one roll, and when it is gone it is gone for good.

The shop admits factories rarely have extra quilting cotton, tulle or felt, so it buys some standard quilting cotton to stay a one-stop shop. Treat those shelves as a supplement. The real reason to come is fabric that makes a scrappy quilt look collected rather than bought as a matched line, from chambray and voile to mid-century florals on canvas.

Plan a project the way the stock arrives. Choose one anchor print you love, then build around it with solids and near-solids from the other walls instead of hunting an exact match. Buy enough for the whole quilt on the first visit, plus a quarter of extra yardage for binding, because a second trip a month later rarely finds the same roll.

Recent rolls show the range. A pixelated geometric cotton and polyamide poplin, crisp and slightly stretchy, is $9.99 a yard. The vintage-look floral sampler canvases in blue, orange and beige, and a multicolor floral on black, are $15 a yard at 48 inches wide. Matching Gutermann thread in a 100-meter spool adds $2.50 at the register.

Canvas from this shop makes a sturdy quilt back for a picnic throw or a tote cut from leftover blocks. The poplins and linen-like rayons suit garment quilters who mix shirting into log cabins. Skip the stretch knits if you are piecing traditional blocks; they distort at a quarter-inch seam and fight the iron.

Fabric is sold by the yard with a half-yard minimum. Swatches are free, but only in the store, so bring a finished block or a phone photo of your palette and hold small cuts against it before committing. In-store prices are already low, and online promo codes cannot be used at the counter.

Stock online and stock in the shop are different, so a roll you saw on the website may not be on Clement Street and the reverse. Gift cards can be bought online but spent only in the store, a detail that trips up out-of-town gift givers.

Fabrix does not teach classes and does not carry yarn, embroidery floss, needlepoint supplies or sewing machine parts. Weekday mornings right after 10 am are the calmest time to dig through the rolls, while Saturday afternoons draw the biggest crowd at the cutting counter. If you need a coordinated designer line, City Made Quilts in the Excelsior carries full collections Wednesday to Sunday.

New arrivals are announced in a biweekly email newsletter, which is the fastest way to hear about a limited roll before it sells out; the current in-store promotion, for example, is a run of 45 different denim rolls. Sign up at the counter or on the website, and check the featured seasonal sections online, such as fall wovens and spring chambray and linen.

Clement Street is the commercial spine of the Inner Richmond, lined with dim sum counters, produce markets, bakeries and Burmese and Chinese restaurants. Green Apple Books, a new and used bookstore at the corner of 6th Avenue, is a few doors west, and browsing its art and design shelves is a pleasant way to let new fabric choices settle before you start cutting.

The 38 Geary runs one block south on Geary Boulevard and the 1 California runs one block north, so the shop is easy without a car, though street parking on Clement fills up by midday. Walk south about six blocks to reach Golden Gate Park near the Conservatory of Flowers, a good place to lay out new fabric on a bench and plan cuts.

Fabrix is at 432 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA 94118, email info@fabrixsanfrancisco.com. Regular hours are Monday through Sunday, 10 am to 5:30 pm, and the shop closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. All sales are final unless the store made a mistake. Online orders ship within the United States by USPS.